Customer Reviews
Great First Computer 
2008-05-10
I love this computer! Easy to read keyboard, has both the 'slide finger mouse' and the red button mouse, very well thought out features make it very user friendly. Screen is nice & bright and very easy to read. I prefer this screen to my husband's 15" widescreen.
ThinkPads are some of the best notebooks you can buy, and this is one of the best ThinkPads. 2007-08-10
ThinkPads are some of the best notebooks you can buy, and this is one of the best ThinkPads.
IBM / Lenovo ThinkPads are the most venerable and reliable notebook computers available to the US consumer, a good combination of performance and excessive amount of configuration options combined with sturdiness and reliability rarely matched by others.
Combined with responsive technical support that listens to your description and answers your questions.
The T41 and rest of the T4 series ( T42, T43 ) are no longer in production, the T41 was manufactured by IBM by Japanese suppliers and before and during the transition of IBM's PC unit to Chinese based Lenovo.
The first thing you notice about any ThinkPad is the feel of the exterior, it feels sturdy like the first time you get behind the wheel of a BMW. This is the result of an inner endoskeleton made of lightweight but strong magnesium alloy. Many laptops are exoskeletal, meaning the motherboard, hard drive, CD and other components are attached to the outer shell. The disadvantage is if the exterior becomes flexed in any way it can stress or crack the internal circuitry. An endoskeletal design in the ThinkPads means if the unit becomes flexed it likely won't flex the internal circuit boards, the amount of flexing required to bend a ThinkPad would have to be extremely routine and unlikely to occur.
This basic endoskeletal design allows IBM to use plastic for the outer casing, at first this may seem alarming but is really crucial when compared to other notebooks of metal exoskeletons, metal conducts heat and modern laptops with their fast multi core CPU's generate inordinate amounts of heat, this heat can turn the bottom of othyer notebook computers into a hot plate and scorch whatever part of your body you're foolish enough to rest it on. This effectively turns your "laptop" into a "keep it at least 24 inches away hotlamp".
ThinkPad technical support is based in Atlanta, GA instead of India or the Phillipines, domestic tech support isn't necessarily a guarantee of quality but when compared to the lesser quality of foreign based tech support often utilized by Dell or HP/Compaq the difference becomes readily apparent.
When you require a new component, the basic 1 year warranty is often fulfilled next day if the component is user replacable or they will furnish you a prepaid express mailer to their depot center. This assumes you ever need an IBM ThinkPad repaired to defective workmanship because they're just built well, IBM doesn't use substandard internal components like Dell ( Dell often buys parts that would fail HP or IBM's quality control standards , there is a reason they're so cheap ).
Extreme modularity, removable optical drives and removable Hard drives makes expansion and repair superbly easy, many notebooks can't remove both their hard drive and optical drive without voiding the warranty, this IBM feature makes it the travelers friend if you're out of town and need to replace a part on the road. There is a huge secondary market of new and used ThinkPad parts in every major city, consider the fact IBM hasn't changed the power supply connector for the ThinkPad in over 9 years, that means a ThinkPad 600e Power Supply from 1996 will fit your T41 made 7 years after so you can keep working.
The keyboard is large enough but not so large it makes the computer too big, the depth of key travel is excellent and it just feels like a real keyboard. The keyboard depth hasn't been changed in over a decade, every ThinkPad types as well as the oldest one.
There are some drawbacks to a ThinkPad, when comparing specification by spec to a Gateway or HP you'll pay more for IBM / Lenovo, the screens aren't the brightest.. .they are bright and clear and rarely afflicted by dead pixels but aren't as bright as an AlienWare or Gateway Solo. The LCD is finished with a matte protector instead of gloss, this helps reduce glare and makes it easier to clean. Gloss covered screens are vulnerable to scratches no matter what kind of wiping cloth is used.
Don't take my word for it, visit a store that sells contemporary ThinkPads and test the keyboard, the weight and screen clarity because the same quality in a modern ThinkPad existed in this older system you're reading about, this is why more major and small corporations choose ThinkPad as their notebook.
